Fifty Lashes
by KimberlyTheOwl
Summary: Short missing scene from "Mauritius Command". Book-verse. Bonden's been flogged, and Jack is outraged.


Author's Notes: This is just a brief little missing scene that I felt compelled to write. In "The Mauritius Command", when Barrett Bonden makes his reappearance (I love how Jack's old shipmates and trusted crew keep popping up and rejoining him, it makes for such lovely continuity) we learn that he is serving about the Nereide, a ship commanded by a brute of a captain who clearly does not know quality when he sees it. He is a tyrant, and he has poor Bonden flogged simply because the brass-work on one of the guns isn't bright enough. When Jack finds out he is horrified, and arranges for Bonden (and, incidentally, the irascible and colorful Killick) to transfer off the Nereide onto his own ship.  
  
I imagine that Jack might have spoken a few private words to Bonden upon his arrival about the Raisonable, and this is therefore my version of their resulting conversation.  
  
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Upon returning to the ship, Jack crooked a finger at the pimply-faced midshipman who was standing attentively at the rail. "Mr. Richardson... hah! I am glad that I spotted you." He grinned in internal appreciation of his private pun; in his own thoughts he always referred to the unfortunate lad as Spotted Dick. "There will be a boat coming over presently from Nereide, with some crew for us. Have the bosun read them in as soon as they are here."  
  
"Yes, sir," answered the boy earnestly.  
  
"We'll be sending back a few to take their place, but that can wait a bit. But there are two of them you must send to me right away. Preserved Killick, who will be my steward, and Barrett Bonden, my coxswain."  
  
The boy assented and saluted, and Jack took himself off for his cabin. He meant to look at the ship's registry and consider which men to send in exchange; Corbett might be a brute, but it would not do to keep him waiting too long for a fair exchange. He had come up with a provisional list when the door opened and Killick entered, already exercising the privilege of the captain's steward to enter the cabin without knocking.  
  
"Which we has arrived, sir, and not afore time, I'm a-tellin' you."  
  
Jack looked up, and smiled with real pleasure. Killick was a complaining, cross-grained bastard to be sure, but the great cabin had seemed oddly quiet and empty without his grumbling in the background. And following him, sidling in the cabin door with a crab-like motion, was the familiar cheerful-faced figure of Barrett Bonden.  
  
"Ah, Killick," he said casually. "Just the fellow I wanted to see. Cut along and make some coffee, would you? Ha, how I have missed your piping hot coffee," he added generously, for Killick looked as pale and nervous as Jack had ever seen him; he seemed to be in need of some shoring up. "Bonden," he said as Killick knuckled his forehead and slipped back out of the cabin, "stay here a moment."  
  
He rose from his table as the cabin door closed, and went to peer more closely at his returned coxswain. Bonden was thinner than he remembered, and bore a half-healed scar on his right cheekbone as well as several on his knuckles. "You've been fighting again, Barrett."  
  
Bonden's face went serious. "Not with my shipmates, sir.. only some coves ashore. I believe there were some money involved." His smile made a brief return.  
  
Jack could put the subject off no longer. "The Doctor tells me that... that is, he mentioned that Captain Corbett had you flogged."  
  
Bonded flinched. "Yes, sir, he did. I'm very sorry, sir. It won't happen again, sir." He reached up to tug on his forelock, and Jack saw him wince as his arm raised.  
  
"Bonden... you don't understand. I just want to know what happened."  
  
"It's over now, sir." Jack could hear the reluctance in his coxswain's voice. "If it's all the same to you, sir, I had just as soon forget all about it."  
  
Jack sighed. "Lift your shirt, Bonden... let me see what they did to you."  
  
He was not prepared for the sight that met his horrified eyes. Jack hated to flog his men, and only the most heinous of crimes bought a sailor more than a ritual dozen. He preferred to have a happy ship and to use minor punishments to keep the men in line whenever possible. He vaguely remembered hearing Stephen saying something about fifty lashes, but it had been years since he had seen the effects of such a punishment at close hand.  
  
Bonden's back, from the bottom part of his neck to the top of his trousers, was criss-crossed with deep and bloody welts. Some were scabbed, others still wet and oozing. The cat had left bruises as well that showed angry and purple, livid beneath the skin. The man's pain was obvious in the way that he held himself.  
  
"When did this happen, Barrett?" he asked softly.  
  
"Just this past Thursday, sir." Bonden lowered his shirt back down. "I bore the first dozen mighty well, sir. But after that... well, I hope you won't think less of me, sir, if I tell you that I right howled, sir, and bawled like a baby."  
  
Tears sprang to Jack's own eyes as he imagined the scene. "No, Barrett, I don't think less of you. Fifty lashes... I am sorry that this happened to you, sorry that you had to take service on the Nereide in the first place. You understand, I cannot interfere with the manner in which the other captains run their ships... but by God I promise you that I won't see you serve on a ship like that again," he said with some heat.  
  
"Thank you, sir," answered Bonden fervently. "I am glad to be back, sir."  
  
"You are of course relieved of any duties until your back heals, Bonden. And do go see the Doctor, right away; let him do what he can for those stripes."  
  
Bonden shifted. "Beggin' your pardon, sir, but... I hear as how you are set to go around and inspect the rest of the squadron today." He lifted his gaze. "I would hate to have Captain... those coves on the Nereide think that I was too weak to do my job, sir."  
  
Jack eyed him closely. "Are you fit enough for some light duty, then?"  
  
"It would give me great pleasure, sir."  
  
"Come on, then." As gently as he could, Jack clapped one large hand on Bonden's shoulder. "Glad to have you back." He raised his voice to bellow. "Killick! Killick, have you gone to Java for that coffee?"  
  
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End file.
